That Which Was Taken
by earthrise
Summary: Keiichi realizes he has something missing in his life. An alternate take on Keiichi's origins and the beginning of the show. Keiichi/Belldandy romance.
1. Tears and Fears

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, I just like playing in the sandbox

Chapter 1: Tears and Fears

Keiichi Morisato was weeping.

Tears ran down his face as he sat curled up against the wall between a bucket of soapy water and a sodden mop that laid forgotten on the floor.

Had someone been there to ask him why, he wouldn't have been able to articulate the reason with words. For once everything in his life was going great. Even having the dorm chores shoved off on him tonight had been a blessing.

School was everything he'd hoped it would be—he'd made some crazy friends, gotten straight A's in all his classes, and puked his guts up after drinking too much on several occasions.

And as abruptly as it started, that terrible feeling inside him was gone. Keiichi's throat and lungs still throbbed, his back felt raw and sweaty against the wall, the t-shirt sticking uncomfortably to it, and his butt was sore, but it was gone.

Keiichi smirked lightly.

"Not very manly, huh," a voice croaked out, and it took him a moment to recognize it as his own.

First came a snort, and then a snicker, a small chuckle and then an avalanche of laughter. Keiichi Morisato struggled to his feet, only to fall down once again when his right leg failed to support his weight.

A few more giggles escaped him, the last few escaping in a rather confused manner as he lay on the floor.

As he lay there he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time- peace. He closed his eyes and felt the chill of the hardwood floor pressing against his bony frame, smelled the acrid mixture of cleaning chemicals drifting through the air like miasma, and listened to the creaks and groans of the building.

RIIINGG!

Keiichi shot up off the ground like a bottle rocket, his heart racing and head pounding from the sudden shift in position. Taking a moment to collect himself first, he ran toward the phone and picked it up.

Good grief. Why his dorm mates couldn't just get an answering machine was beyond him.

"Hello,"

"I'm afraid he's not in right now, let me take a message for him."

"All right, I'll leave the note on his bunk. Good night."

Keiichi stripped off his sweat-soaked t-shirt and flopped onto his bed with a sigh. A few moments later his brief repose was interrupted by a loud growl from his stomach, and he groaned. There was no way he was going to bother with fixing a proper meal after whatever brief emotional insanity had come over him, so delivery it was.

Keiichi dialed the number for the local okonomiyaki place without really paying too much attention. Instead of the nasally voice of the woman who owned the establishment, a eager child's voice answered.

"You have reached the Goddess relief office. I will come over in person to grant your wish!"

With that pronouncement, the line gave a heavy click, and an even heavier sense of dread at that statement settled in Keiichi's stomach. A low growl sounded next to him. Keichi looked down at the source of the noise—a huge spectral white hound snarling in the direction of the kitchen.

_The Kami are coming._

In an instant, the dread was gone, along with the snarling specter.

A large clattering arose from the kitchen, and then a cute little girl with strange blue markings on her face entered the living room from there. This was rather unusual, as the kitchen had no doors or windows.

"Hello Mr. Keiichi Morisato, I'm Skuld Goddess 3rd class trainee, and I'm here to grant your wish."

"Must really be going insane today," Keiichi murmured to himself. "Wonder when I passed through Sheogorath's gates?"

"What's your wish Mr. Keiichi? How 'bout never ending ice cream? Or a robot? Or a robot that makes ice cream?" She blurted out the last question with stars in her eyes.

The little girl, Skuld he supposed, was bouncing up and down like a rabbit on crack.

Skuld was ecstatic; this would be her first ever wish granting! Belldandy would be so proud, especially since she had managed the whole thing without having to ask anyone else for help.

Keiichi smiled at the antics of his hallucination. He may as well play along.

"All right then, a wish huh? Ice cream is always good I suppose, but not the sort of thing I would wish for," Keiichi paused here contemplating his life and the sense of yawning absence that clawed through his very soul, and suddenly it all seemed crystal clear in the midst of this strange fever dream.

"But really, really all I want is something simple. I've always wanted a family, but I'm not really much of a lady's man."

Skuld looked at him impatiently, and was obviously biting back a request for him to hurry up.

"I just wish that I could raise a girl like you."

Keiichi smiled. Maybe he would adopt a young child—after he finished his degree.

Skuld froze in place, a look of shock and not a small amount of fear on her young face.

"Skuld-chan? Are you okay?" Keiichi asked, noticing the expression of the young illusion in his dormitory.

"G-granted," the young Goddess choked out.

A beam of light shot up from the young goddess and into the night sky, tearing a hole through the dorm roof.

Keiichi froze in place as well. Screams echoed in his head, and he attempted to join them in chorus but his throat was too tight couldn't breathe growling couldn't breathe howling gotta breathe-

_**The Kami are coming.**_


	2. Realizations

Disclaimer: Don't own, just playing in the sandbox.

Realizations

"G-granted," the young Goddess choked out.

A beam of light shot up from the young goddess and into the night sky, tearing a hole through the dorm roof.

Keiichi froze in place as well. Screams echoed in his head, and he attempted to join them in chorus but his throat was too tight couldn't breathe growling couldn't breathe howling gotta breathe-

_**The Kami are coming.**_

Once again, as was happening far too often lately, the feeling disappeared in an instant leaving him wondering if it ever really happened.

Skuld also was regaining sensibility after the shock, but still the collapsing bookcase went unnoticed by her.

Keiichi's body was moving before he even realized it, curling protectively around his young charge. The two of them lay on the floor unmoving for a couple of seconds before Skuld gave a loud wail and kicked Keiichi between his legs.

While Keiichi was moaning on the floor, Skuld ran to the telephone and dialed the number she knew by heart.

"Come on, come on, pick up!" She cried.

"Belldandy! It's not valid, of course it isn't, right nee-sama!"

"I'm sorry, Skuld-chan, but the Almighty has approved the wish

"NO! It can't be valid, it can't be!" Skuld sobbed out.

The young goddess slammed down the phone and kicked the desk.

For good measure she ran up and tried to kick Keiichi as well, but her foot was intercepted before it reached him.

Keiichi held her foot in a painfully firm grasp, staring up at her with a look of incomprehension and betrayal in his eyes. The growling sound was back, and louder than ever.

"Why, little Kami?"

The mechanical engineering student had no clue why he reacted in this manner, but it quite frankly terrified him. He wasn't the type to purposefully bring tears to young children, illusions or not, was he?

Skuld looked at him with fear in her tear-rimmed eyes until he sighed, and released her foot. She stumbled slightly, but stood there staring at him, looking ever so vulnerable and _real_.

Keiichi sat up slowly and sighed.

"You're not an illusion, are you, Skuld-chan," he stated, more for his own benefit than anything else.

She slowly shook her head, and he sighed again.

"I am very sorry Skuld-chan, I don't understand why I've been acting so strangely lately."

Skuld worried her lip with her teeth, and Keiichi reached slowly out to her, wondering if his suspicions were correct.

She threw herself in his arms, and buried her face in his chest, letting loose the rest of the tears that had threatened to fall earlier. Several minutes passed like this before she began to speak.

"Wording is just as important in a wish as intent. You wished to raise a girl like me, but what you meant was that you wanted to raise me."

"I was worried that was the case. I am very sorry, little kami. I have torn you from your realm, your home."

_**Father, how could you!**_

Keiichi shook his head. What the hell was up with that? His father had always been wonderful and supportive. Passing it off as more of the strangeness going on with his head lately, he continued on.

"We have two choices little Kami, we can fight-"

"No," interrupted Skuld. "It is His Will now, it cannot be fought. Besides, it wouldn't look very good if I went back on my first wish would it?"

"Then little kami, will you accept me as your caregiver?"

She snorted.

"Not like we have much choice. I accept you as my guardian."

There was a small flash of light-

and then the TV exploded. 

A beautiful woman came crashing through, lightning sparking and crackling in her eyes and throughout her revealing clothes.

_**The Kami are coming.**_

"What the _Hell_-"

Before he knew it, Keiichi was on his feet charging at the woman, but she was too fast for him, grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him against the wall.

"Do you think you're doing! I won't let anyone kidnap her, no matter how much of a brat she is. I will strike you down mortal!"

"Urd, stop! It's a contract!"

"Yeah, sure, then why the _Hell_ did he attack me?" Urd sneered, pinning Keiichi up against the wall in a choke hold with one hand, while the other held a large ball of lightning threateningly.

"I don't know! But by the power vested in me by His Will, you will release Keiichi!" Skuld rolled a ratchet bomb around in her hand.

A few tense moments passed as Keiichi turned blue and his vision started going dark.

"Very well."

Urd dropped Keiichi in a heap on the floor and left in a huff, as Skuld tucked the ratchet bomb away somewhere unseen.

Keiichi looked up at Skuld, and was about to speak before-

"Morisato! How dare you defile our sacred temple of manhood by bringing a girl here!"


	3. Eviction

Disclaimer: Don't own, just playing in the sandbox.

Urd dropped Keiichi in a heap on the floor and left in a huff, as Skuld tucked the ratchet bomb away somewhere unseen.

Keiichi looked up at Skuld, and was about to speak before-

"Morisato! How dare you defile our sacred temple of manhood by bringing a girl here!"

Oh great. Those crazy upper-classmen roommates of his Tamiya and Otaki.

Those two were a few pistons shy of a V-8, but they did genuinely care about their younger classmates, which was more than could be said about many of their peers.

Fortunately for him, Skuld seemed to know just to do with them. The young Goddess ran up to them and began repeatedly kicking them in the shins, causing them to dance around the dorm room in pain.

"Ow! Ow! Oowowowowow!"

Otaki found temporary refuge on top of the kitchen counter.

"This is seriously not cool, dude."

Poor Tamiya had now been backed into a corner by Skuld. He was curled up into a ball with Skuld raining punches and kicks upon his back.

Keiichi wanted to laugh, but decided enough was enough.

"Skuld!"

The little girl backed away. Courage seemingly spent, she ran and hid behind the now standing Keiichi.

"I'm sorry about this guys, but this is Skuld. I'm her guardian now, so she's got to stay with me."

Otaki hopped down from the counter, landing on Tamiya who gave a pitiful moan.

"Well, there's a problem with that, dude. The contract you signed agreed that you wouldn't bring females into the dorm for any reason," said Otaki.

Keiichi had read the contract fully, but he had never in a million years imagined that he might have a problem with that particular clause. Even if he had gotten a girlfriend, there was no privacy to be had in the dorm, and though corny, he kind of liked the idea of a "Temple of Manhood". He would never admit it though.

"But she's just a little girl! What possible harm could it do?" Keiichi asked.

Tamiya gave a sigh.

"It's like this, Morisato. I'm sure you noticed that rent here is ridiculously cheap for how close we are to campus proper, right?" Otaki continued on without giving Keiichi a chance to reply. "Rent here is subsidized by several groups with very strict rules about that sort of thing. Nobody here could afford to live here without that subsidy. We can't take the chance."

Keiichi winced. He had wondered about that, and his first semester had been spent on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop, before he decided that it was just good fortune. So much for optimism.

Tamiya had finally returned to a roughly standing position, and Keiichi turned to him, hoping to play the guilt card.

"You'd dump a little girl out on the streets?" He said, pulling the quivering Skuld from behind him briefly.

Otaki pinched the bridge of his nose, seeing through the ploy. Huh. He'd pegged them both for dumb, crazy jocks, but it seemed that they were simply crazy jocks.

"Morisato. Think a little. We can't do anything, but I can guarantee you that you could both least crash for a night with almost anyone in the college, because as you said, who would dump a little girl on the streets?"

At this, Tamiya nodded at Otaki, and they rushed at Keiichi and Skuld. Keiichi and Skuld went flying through the air and out through the open window. To Keiichi, the wind seemed to whisper with a thousand tongues.

_The Kami are coming._

Before they reached the ground Keiichi could have sworn he saw that same white hound glaring suspiciously off into the distance.

The two of them landed outside the front door on a conveniently placed mattress that Keiichi was sure hadn't been there before. This was turning out to be a very strange day.

On a near identical trajectory came his suitcases, also landing undamaged on the mattress.

He looked up and saw that Tamiya and Otaki were standing in the window, hugging each other and weeping what they later claimed to be "Manly tears of joy."

"Don't forget to write!" Shouted Tamiya.

"They grow up so fast!" Cried Otaki.

And then the windows slammed shut.

Keiichi and Skuld sat there, rather dumbfounded at this chain of events.

The windows opened with a bang, something flew out and hit Keiichi in the head, and then the windows slammed shut once more.

Rubbing his injury, he picked up the object, which turned out to be a note wrapped around a gumball sized ball bearing.

"Go ask Hasegawa, she'll probably put you up for a night. Signed, O & T. P.S. The keys are on the visor." Keiichi read aloud.

Keiichi looked and saw the old beater of a car that Tamiya and Otaki had finally coaxed into running last week after months of effort. He smiled. They were weirdos all right, but they were still good friends in his book.

"Well, I don't have any better ideas. Let's go," he said.

With some difficulty, Keiichi loaded his luggage into the rusty car and got Skuld settled in the passenger seat. Normally, this would have been at most a half hour's drive.

This was not a normal day. Due to several accidents, a parade, a loose distributor cap, and a large herd of mimes, it was after ten at night before they were at parked at Hasegawa's apartment complex.

Keiichi knocked on the door, with Skuld clinging to his side. She had been sleeping in the passenger seat ever since the mime incident, and it was quite evident that she was still exhausted.

Sora Hasegawa answered the door, hair and glasses askew, staring at the two of them uncomprehendingly.

"I am terribly sorry to intrude, Hasegawa-san, but Skuld-chan and I need someplace to spend the night. May we trespass on your hospitality?"

Sora gave a grunt, and opened the door. She pointed to the couch, and walked off like a zombie toward her bedroom.

Keiichi shut the door and locked it behind him. Picking up Skuld, he placed her gently on the couch, and settled himself on the floor next to it, falling asleep almost instantly.

A beautiful woman stared through the window at them, and gave a small smile before stepping through it and disappearing.

In his dreams, a white hound snarled.

_The Kami are coming._


End file.
